Hastings Rationals
Promoting a rational approach to life
Hastings Rationals is an initiative dedicated to promoting rationalist principals in the Port Macquarie / Hastings area. We aim to provide a forum for local atheists, agnostics, scientists, teachers, humanists, secularists, free thinkers and like-minded individuals to share their views on a range of issues and to generate ideas for advocating rationality in the local community and in all levels of government.
News
7 January 2009 - Blog installed
1 January 2009 - Happy New Year!
1 January 2009 - In the media:
- More Middle East conflict (4 random articles plucked from Google News)
- More criticism of proposed mandatory Internet filter
- Sex Party lashes Pope - Pope ignores child abuse by clergy, blames porn.
- Gays blast Pope's 'homophobic attack'
- Topless Ban Discriminatory, Nile's topless ban fails to take off
1 January 2009 - We will soon be adding a blog to this site, enabling us to more easily post relevant news items and providing a way for site visitors to voice their opinions.
13 July 2007 - Analysis: Australian census reveals more people with "No religion"
Preliminary goals
The list below outlines some initial social, organisational and strategic goals. (This list will be subject to change over time.)
- Set up an online forum to aid discussion and exploration of a wide range of topics;
- Engage with local youth by sponsoring and organising social events, youth development programmes and educational activities;
- Develop a local youth scholarship programme;
- Support local public education by establishing a coordinated programme of fundraising, marketing / public relations assistance, volunteer work and political lobbying;
- Support secular charities through assistance with fundraising and promotion;
- Lobby political parties and elected representatives at all levels of government (including Port Macquarie Hastings councilors) regarding development of rational, secular public policy. [See our list of high profile issues and areas of concern.]
Quote...
"Of course people of faith want us to respect their beliefs. For they have no other way of defending them than to appeal to respect, to promise rewards for believers, or threaten punishments for unbelievers. So anyone who cares about the truth should resist these meme tricks. Religious faith is something that we should struggle to throw off when we have better ways of learning the truth about the universe we live in; something we should overcome rather than something we should respect."
~ Sue Blackmore
Get involved!
If you would like to be involved in this project at any level - even just to be kept informed of future developments - please contact us using the email address shown below. If you are able to contribute time, skills, expertise or anything else we would love to hear from you! The more people who support this initiative the more effective it will be and the more our local community will benefit.
Related links
- Wikipedia entries: Rationalism, atheism, agnosticism, humanism, secularism, free thought;
- Port Macquarie Hastings Council - Official web site for our local government area;
- Some secular (i.e. non-religious) charities:
- RichardDawkins.net - The official web site for biologist, professor and award-winning author Richard Dawkins. His latest book The God Delusion reached #1 on the Amazon.com bestseller list and has been on the New York Times bestseller List for an incredible 7 months (as of 8 April 2007). The site also links to the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, "a non-profit organization promoting the mental and moral improvement of the human race by means of the advancement of rationalism and humanism."